Sailing and working on our boat was always something I did for rest and relaxation during the weekends back in Port San Luis. However, now that we are out cruising we still enjoy sailing, when we have usable wind, but working on the boat has morphed into something we once did for "rest and relaxation" to something we have to do to either keep THIRD DAY from sinking or to keep here systems up and running. See friends, a boat, by her very nature, wants to rest soundly on the bottom of what ever body of water she is floating on and it's the job of a boat owner to constantly fight the forces of nature, the laws of physics and the principals of metal corrosion to keep her afloat. It's not something we boat owners talk about often and share with our non-boating friends: this never ending battle. Perhaps it is because we figure that if we talk openly about all the time and energy it takes to keep a boat floating and functioning we will appear even crazier to our non-boating friends.

"Hey I have a great idea, I think I'm going to cast off cruising on a vessel that I know in advance the forces of nature are conspiring to sink, maim, or render her systems inoperable. And oh by the way, I'm bringing my wife and two kids along and we will have a ball!"

The work required to fend off the forces of nature and keep your vessel afloat and functioning, lead to what we call "Cruising Myth No 3: Cruising is all Rest and Relaxation". Long ago even we bought into the myth because just the word "Cruising" conjures up scenes of a tropical beach, a rum drink, and a hammock hanging between two, perfectly spaced and positioned just right to block the suns rays, coconut trees. The reality, however, is that the person in the hammock is resting only after a morning of bending and contorting his body into inhuman shapes and positions to repair some boat system tucked away in some hard to reach alcove of his boat.

For the aspiring cruisers out there thinking that if they buy a new boat they can somehow sneak around these forces and avoid the cruising axiom, "Cruising is fixing your boat in Exotic places", I have some bad news for you. New boats have just as many needed repairs as our 30yr old boat. Sure, you can decrease the amount of needed repair items by going through every boat system before you cast the dock lines, but despite all the ads in Yachtworld and Latitude 38, there is really no such animal as a "Cruise Ready Sailboat"! That's actually Cruising Myth No 4, by the way, but that's another post. New equipment fails at almost the same rate out here cruising as old equipment, just look at the hole in my bulkhead where my brand new MPPT (Multi Power Point Tracking) solar controller was once mounted! The controller failed while coming down the Baja, so for now, the panels are connected directly to the battery, awaiting the return of the repaired controller. Then there is the brand new autopilot control head that failed along with the multiple other small items that then required the almost standard ½ day repair. A friend on a 6 month old boat had me bring him down a new 100A Balmar alternator when I drove back to San Diego to replace the unit that fried ½ way down the Baja coast. Just hang out in a large cruising destination like La Paz for any length of time and you will see every style of boat and cruiser needing repairs, in short, you can't beat the laws of Physics folks, so instead of trying, just accept it and don't add extra stress and aggravation to yourself and crew when your just rebuilt V-drive suddenly has a 1" hole in the housing, cruising happens!

Now there is plenty of rest and relaxation while out cruising, and we don't want to paint an overly depressing image of 24-7 boat maintenance and repairs, but it's cruising nature to not dwell on all the work involved while out cruising and only post photos and stories of perfect anchorages, sunsets, and landed fish. Just remember that for every photo of a pretty fish, someone aboard that boat had to gut, clean and filet the fish and then wash down the blood from the boat before it dries into a permanent blood trophy stain on the topside. We have also yet to run across a sailboat equipped with a dishwasher, so every knife, plate, pan, and serving bowl used to enjoy that pretty fish will need to be washed and dried by hand. Each time we have caught a fish aboard THIRD DAY the next 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the fish, is spent preparing the fish to the point where you would typically see it for sale in the supermarket back in the States and then cleaning the boat. The words "Fish On" are cruising speak for "Get to Work", but you know what they say about a bad day fishing compared to work!